The Australian Christian Lobby has called into question the plebiscite costings released today by international accountancy firm PwC because it lacks objectivity.

An ACL spokesperson said, “PwC is not a neutral organisation in the same-sex marriage debate. The firm is a public supporter of same-sex marriage and of Australian Marriage Equality, who are working on the yes case for the plebiscite.

“Having voiced such strong public support for same-sex marriage, PwC is not an unbiased source of information when it comes to the plebiscite or in efforts to redefine marriage.

“These costings fail to take into account the value of a people’s vote. It is valuable to democracy and valuable to the Australian people who mostly support the plan. They also fail to consider the enormous cost of the nearly 20 times this issue has been raised in parliament in recent years. Parliamentary time, committees and inquiries are very expensive.

“The issue of same-sex marriage has gone before the parliament almost 20 times in recent years. The plebiscite is an important way to finally resolve the matter in a democratic way.

“If proponents for change are so confident of overwhelming public support, it is perplexing that they are relentlessly trying to have the people’s vote scrapped. Surely they should welcome the opportunity to have such a resounding endorsement of their vision for marriage and family.

“By doing whatever it takes to undermine the plebiscite, proponents of change are sending open-minded Australians a message that they would prefer to rush controversial law change without consultation rather than allow people the opportunity to carefully examine the consequences.

“By contrast, those in favour of preserving marriage do not seem to fear democracy and are open to all the consultation and discussion that a plebiscite will involve.“Australians have shown that they can be trusted to respectfully debate sensitive issues.”